Tuesday, September 16, 2014

THE HOH RAINFOREST.

Three
trails take you into the depths of the Hoh Rainforest. The river trail
is 17.5 miles long, the spruce trail is 1.2 miles long and the moss
trail is .75 miles. We've seen a good bit of rainforest these days and
decided on the shorter moss trail. Sixty feet into the trail and wham,
this big cedar jumps out at you. I tried to take a panorama shot of it,
with minimal success. It is just too big.
And again, another panorama of a huge spruce tree...
with the top showing above some other trees. I'm standing among giants.
In
a small cleared area, I was able to stand far enough back to get a
smaller tree from top to bottom, except the bottom is hidden behind a
rotting spar, but, you get the idea. Wow!
And
then when one giant falls across the path and another giant falls
across it? How many years before they become decayed and dangerous?
Twenty-five, thirty years?
This trail is named moss and there is plenty of it. As we got deeper into the woods, we saw heavy moss like this.
And this.
The
mosses are licorice moss and another that survives on the nutrients in
the air. It can be pretty. But, some heavily covered trees look dead and
ugly to me.
The understory is beautiful and the woods an exciting walk through.
A sign asked us to pace off this fallen tree. You are looking at half of it.
I was stunned when I learned how tall they grow.
You
look at this living and dying forest, the mixture of the little things
eating up the big things. This rain forest averages 155 inches of rain
per year.
If you hold still log enough, you'll have a new hairdo.
The fungi are relentless, and do their job and provide a bit of beauty too.
We
left the moss trail and walked part of the spruce trail. Doubtless we
missed some different sites, but it was similar in many ways to what we
had just seen. We packed up and went home. Having missed lunch, we
enjoyed an early dinner instead. If you have the opportunity, you should
visit Hoh Rainforest.